The following is one in an ongoing series of columns entitled Your Eyesight and You: A Total Mind/Body Understanding of Vision by .View all columns in series

There's a mysterious connection between how you see and who you are. Nobody understands it exactly, but it's been documented for more than 100 years.

The more that I have studied the eyes, and the more that I teach people to gain better vision – as I have for over three decades – the more I appreciate how deep and profound our sense of sight is.

And, eye problems and imbalances are also a reflection of deeper imbalances and patterns of perception.

One example of this that I’d like to talk about today is nearsightedness (myopia), or not being able to see clearly in the distance.

Beyond not being able to focus clearly in the distance, what does being nearsighted say about who you are and how you approach the world?

Researchers have been asking that question for more than 100 years, and what they have found both holds the key to a more holistic understanding of vision and a way to improve your sight.

Studies going back to the 1900’s demonstrate that there is a relationship between personality and vision - that people who are nearsighted tend to exhibit certain personality patterns and traits more often than people who are not nearsighted.

In the mid-1970s a Harvard researcher wrote a paper in which he summarized all the research that showed a relationship between nearsightedness and personality. The basic thrust of his paper was that people who are nearsighted, who can’t see far away, have pulled their world into them or have retreated from one part of the world in some way or another. So, in terms of these personality measurements, nearsighted people tend to be more introverted, to lack a certain amount of social confidence and are shyer.

Interestingly, we don’t need research to tell us this. We know it intuitively.

What happens in the movies when the director or writer wants to portray a character who is timid, lacks a little confidence, is shy or introverted? They put glasses on him, right? We subconsciously recognize that the need for glasses goes with that personality type.

The stereotypes we see in the movies are often just a superficial reflection of a deeper truth. Look at some of the writings of people who are involved in spiritual development and personal growth. Years ago Louise Hay wrote the groundbreaking book, You Can Heal Your Life. In her book she lists a variety of physical dysfunctions and diseases and outlines what the inner psychological or psycho-emotional aspect is that connects to that issue. She says that for nearsightedness it’s the unwillingness to see what’s ahead, to see what’s coming.

Jane Roberts, author of Seth Speaks, says that not being able to see the world clearly is a manifestation or reflection of a part of yourself that you don’t want to see.

All these examples point to what I call the “nearsighted personality”, which is much more than what’s going on in the eyes. It is reflected in the body, the mind and the emotions. Again, let’s look at the movies: the character who wears glasses and looks a little timid and shy and lacking in confidence, particularly the social type of confidence—well, there’s a whole personality that goes with that. It’s not just the glasses, it’s also the shyness, it’s also the way they carry themselves physically, its also the way they think about themselves or think about the world or think about their relationship to other people. So the personality of nearsightedness has a physical component, a emotional component, a mental component, a perceptual component, a self image component, and it has a physical eyesight component as well.

Martin Sussman, president and founder of the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision and developer of the world's #1 Best-selling Program for Better Vision, is also co-author of Total Health at the Computer. Mr. Sussman......more

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